Saturday, June 6, 2015

There's something about the gaming world that repeatedly absorbs me
into the muddy aspects that I don't like about gaming, and yet no matter
how much awareness I have towards these ailing areas I still find
myself taking part in them, however temporarily, regardless. Some of
them I've managed to conquer and leave behind, like preferential manias
("system wars," say) and blind statistics (do we really know how many
copies the Metroid Prime series sold? Does it really matter?),
but there are some corners that still stick out, pierce my ribs, and
then swing me over into an all-too familiar shit hole that I immediately
know I should get out of--- but still stick around, just for a while,
because of some deranged, self-harming addictive element, like a fly
swimming in dog crap.
In this blog, what I'm specifically
referring to is skewed "criticism," or synthetic complaining, about
games that you are having a terrific experience with and yet are
compelled to be judgmental and negative about whenever you publicize
your opinion concerning, which any thoughtful investigation of a forum
discussion will prove true. I assume this phenomenon of judgment comes
from the fact that the videogame Review, and the reactionary impulse to
loudly applaud or loudly disagree with each one, remains the most
impacting form of journalism for gaming, rather than varied discussion
and personal interpretation.
This is a ridiculous environment.
There is nothing that needs a bullet-point list so to be discussed, and
this is especially true when you're discussing in a personal matter. The
strive for objectivity in gaming journalism is important, but there
needs to be drawn a line between journalistic writing, and personal. At
least for me it does.
And so--- Splatoon.
I
have some complaints with Splatoon, and if I were writing a review of
Splatoon I'd cast hard judgment for this new and inventive title from
Nintendo. The literal couple of game-modes play too chaotically, Turf
Wars being meaningless until the last 30 seconds, and the lack of
player-communication support disables Splatoon from becoming a
thoroughly competitive game, which it certainly could be. This is also
another videogame that launched with promises of updates, and there is
something greatly problematic with this trend because the game is
full-price, and in no way does Splatoon feel like a full game. It
promises to become one, but then why even bother with this thin, if not
skeletal, form now? Updates are in no way guaranteed, and this should
never be overlooked with games like Splatoon. Updates are a method to
keep a game selling if it succeeds prior. But if the game were
to fail or drop off the radar, then those updates, which are just
promises and not contractual agreement with the consumer, will also fall
through.
And I won't humor Splatoon's campaign; it's short, it's
obscenely easy, and it's position is as something to do while the
Internet is down in your home or when you've gone on a frustrating
losing streak in multiplayer. It's significantly limited in what it
offers, and grossly elementary with what it does. And so, when
the multiplayer goes dead in Splatoon, whether that is five years or six
months from now, Splatoon will become a rather useless game to own,
multiplayer updates or not, and this isn't something that I would say is
acceptable, or at least not yet (and hopefully ever), with full price
games.
So I have some serious problems with Splatoon. I question
the entire game-design, and the way Splatoon's multiplayer focus
indifferently views the individual consumer while still charging
full-price inspires some conservative philosophy that I feel is relevant
in judging Splatoon. If this were a review, which I like to write with
the intention of being a consumer report rather than artistic criticism,
my final opinion would be that there is a serious lapse in the total
realization of Splatoon as a game in its current form, and that the cons
within Splatoon's total design far outweigh the positives of its
ingenuity and smooth gameplay. This would be my objective opinion.
All of that said, I'm not
writing a review here. What I want to talk about here, and what I
always mean to talk about on forums, is my own personal experiences with
the game, which have been immensely satisfying. Splatoon has fast
become a beloved addition to my Wii U library, and in the five days the
game has been out I've put more than fifteen hours into it and not a one
has been without excitement and enjoyment.
I've been excited for
Splatoon for reasons that are indifferent to my Review criticisms. When
Splatoon was revealed at E3 2014 I was eager to get my hands on it
because it didn't look like it would be an intensively competitive
shooter, which would be a great change of pace in my gaming world. It
had this great art-style and original gameplay ideas and it looked like
silly, simple, and easy-going fun. I never expected Splatoon to make me
want to start a clan and start bickering with teammates about position
and strategy; I expected it to be highly casual and accessible, and all
of these desires and expectations came out to be true.
I really
don't care that the Aerospray is easily the best weapon for Turf Wars,
and I don't care that there are only six maps available now. I also
don't care that I can't talk to my teammates (who are almost always
Japanese it seems, and my 日本語 skills are rather poor anyway). None of
this stuff, whether competitive play or ultra-balanced gameplay, matters
to my personal expectations and desires from Splatoon. My big hope from
Splatoon was that it would be a shooter that I could play without
giving a damn about winning or losing, about being able to just have fun
and explore this strange little world of boneless squid-kids, and
that's exactly what Splatoon delivered. And it's awesome.
There
is a time and a place for criticism, or praise. The two are not always
linked together; criticism has its obvious value, but so too does
praise. There's more to be gained from socializing about gaming than
just frustration and the investigation of error. There's fun in gaming
discussion, and being able to explore that fun, to put into words what
exactly made an experience so uniquely and positively your own, is as
important a public display for others as criticism is.
The
problems with a game do not necessarily outweigh its successes, and this
is important to understand. With Splatoon, the only way to criticize it
is as a multiplayer shooter, and the staples and consistencies within
that genre do prevent Splatoon from earning anything other than a very
lightly positive review. But that doesn't mean that the actual
experience of Splatoon is lacking. The oddly colorful Japanese designs,
the quirky construct of amalgamating squids, and even the single player
story, which has charming collectibles that humorously tell the history
of the war between inklings and octolings, is inspiring and delightfully
creative, and I would say it's completely untrue if someone were to
state that Splatoon is not worth experiencing because of its objective
issues.
This blog is almost an apology, because the reason I'm
writing this is because I made the error of resuming the character of
the bitter gamer when Splatoon released. My review criticisms I
portrayed as my personal opinion, and this was completely unfair and
dishonest. Splatoon has been an excellent experience, and I am
consistently surprised by the imaginative qualities that are the true
structure of this game. It's a world of its own, from gameplay, art,
sound, and really everything, and there's something that needs to be
celebrated with this. The degree of individuality in Splatoon is what
I'd argue most significantly in its favor: Splatoon is downright amazing
and sensationally brilliant, and deserves to be experienced.

Thursday, January 8, 2015

More than a year ago I wrote up my impressions from the demo of Gaist Crusher, and in that writing I expressed a positive energy towards Gaist Crusher because of what I'd thought would be added to the final product, and not so much what I'd actually experienced. There wasn't much to the Gaist Crusher demo, but because I did like what was offered on a basic level I took the optimist route and wrote rather glowing impressions anyway---Well you live and learn, because not only did none of my vapid assumptions come true, my initial feelings on Gaist Crusher, which I'd buried underneath positivity, have come to be my final opinion as well. While Gaist Crusher does have a slick presentation and solid gameplay, there is nowhere near even the most minimal of variety to hide what is an excessively dull experience. Gaist Crusher is a serious offender of mindless repetition and blatant limitation, and no matter how well built the gameplay is it cannot camouflage how unrewarding, and seriously boring, the game actually is.

Saturday, January 3, 2015

Having spent about 20 hours total with the New Nintendo 3DS now, I'm excited to post my impressions of the new device. With this blog I'll focus on what I myself found important while using the New Nintendo 3DS, rather than doing yet another comprehensive overview of features you already know about.